wealth and reality tv
Reality Blurred recently linked to a great article in the Los Angeles Times about the failure of The Princes of Malibu, the recent reality show featuring Brandon and Brody Jenner (sons of Bruce Jenner) and their angry stepdad, composer David Foster. The show lasted only a few episodes before being pushed off onto the Fox Reality Channel amid allegations that the action on the show wasn't exactly "real."
This is a claim I've also heard recently made in reference to Laguna Beach, and I think the article subtly raises the question of whether or not this is a positive direction for reality shows to take. Is this genre of shows where real people play themselves in somewhat staged situations even really "reality"? (Obviously not, I guess.) But what else can we call it? I'm generally not a fan of this reality subgenre, with the exception of those shows that are also competitions (like Real World Road Rules Challenge) and the "what happens in Cabo stays in Cabo" episode of Laguna Beach.
But the main question of the article relates to the intersection between wealth and celebrity and reality television, and attempts to answer a question I've often wondered about. What drives relatively famous and wealthy people (and their children) to develop their own reality shows? Why is some fame and forture not enough?
This is a claim I've also heard recently made in reference to Laguna Beach, and I think the article subtly raises the question of whether or not this is a positive direction for reality shows to take. Is this genre of shows where real people play themselves in somewhat staged situations even really "reality"? (Obviously not, I guess.) But what else can we call it? I'm generally not a fan of this reality subgenre, with the exception of those shows that are also competitions (like Real World Road Rules Challenge) and the "what happens in Cabo stays in Cabo" episode of Laguna Beach.
But the main question of the article relates to the intersection between wealth and celebrity and reality television, and attempts to answer a question I've often wondered about. What drives relatively famous and wealthy people (and their children) to develop their own reality shows? Why is some fame and forture not enough?
posted by Erica @ 10:59 PM
3 Comments:
At 1:07 AM,
Anonymous said…
i've been meaning to talk to you about this since i actually saw an episode of laguna beach.
it's made in such a way that they can use more "cinematic" directing and and photography techniques-- you can see that it's been edited just by visualising the camera positions (that and looking at the lighting, etc) and yet noticing that time (more specifically, audio) is continuous where camera positions are not.
the point is to make it more like a movie or a tv show, and it works, but it's totally unsettling to watch.
i'm just waiting for the episode where they show all the characters going down to the looping stage to re-record all their dialogue.
At 3:00 PM,
Erica said…
it's just so weird, because if i wanted a movie-esque show, i would just watch a movie.
also, you would think that with all this editing and faking, laguna beach would interesting, but it's actually very boring. they manage to make drama so uninteresting.
At 1:47 PM,
Anonymous said…
There doesn't seem to be much of a line anymore. It's all blurring. Reality looks like a movie, movies reach into reality. And shows continue to try to top each other more and more.
It's like this new show from Gil Ripley, Dave Roberts and Kevin Blatt the porn producer: The Ultimate, Ultimate Challenge. Check it out on IMDB. Ha - what in god's name will they be able to come up with top the stuff we see on Fear Factor and the fakeness of Laguna Beach?
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